Completion Date: (July 25th)
Location: (behind) Code VA
300 E Broad St. Richmond, VA

Lead Photographer: Katrina Taggart-Hecksher | Assistant Photographer: Brenda Soque

We were very inspired by the faded, historical painted advertising that is on many of the old buildings here in Richmond and we liked the idea of translating these modern phrases into the vernacular of late 19th-century advertising – essentially making them seem like something that was actually here all along. The Confederate statues that have recently been removed came from the same era, a time when there was a serious effort made to erase the progress of African-Americans. Oddly enough the wall we ended up working on actually had a few “ghost ads” already on it, so the aesthetic fit in more than we could’ve imagined.⁠⠀
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The finished mural is about the history that has led to where we are today, the conversations we need to be having right now, and the opportunity we have to move forward into a better future. It will require effort and we absolutely can’t do it alone, but hopefully, this piece offers a vision of how we might start to work on this together.⁠⠀